Costume leg extenders with natural foot covers

ABSTRACT

A COSTUME ITEM FOR THE LOWER LEG AND FOOT IN THREE INTERCONNECTED PRINCIPAL PARTS, NAMELY, A BELL BOTTOM PANT LEG SIMULATING COVER FOR THE NATURAL FOOT OF THE USER, A SANDAL CONNECTED TO THE COVER, AND A LEG OR PEDAL EXTENDER HAVING UNIQUE MEANS FOR SAFETY ATTACHMENT TO THE SANDAL. THE PEDAL EXTENDER IS CONCEIVED AS ORDINARILY   GROTESQUE AND OF COURSE CONTRIBUTES THE PRINCIPAL COSTUMING COMIC OR TOY CHARACTERISTIC, WHILE THE FOOT COVER IS PRIMARILY TO GIVE THE ILLUSION OF LEG LENGTH EXTENSION.

Dec. 14, 1971 E. R. CRAMER 352,609

COSTUME LEG EXTENDERS WITH NATURAL FOOT COVERS Filed July 2, 1970 INVENTOR- EVAN R. CRAMER BY jcwwem United States Patent 3,626,609 COSTUME LEG EXTENDERS WITH NATURAL FOOT COVERS Evan R. Cramer, 1420 Arlington Place, El Cajon, Calif. 92021 Filed July 2, 1970, Ser. No. 51,781 Int. Cl. A43b 3/10 US. CI. 36-75 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A costume item for the lower leg and foot in three interconnected principal parts, namely, a bell bottom pant leg simulating cover for the natural foot of the user, a sandal connected to the cover, and a leg or pedal extender having unique means for safety attachment to the sandal. The pedal extender is conceived as ordinarily grotesque and of course contributes the principal costuming, comic or toy characteristic, while the foot cover is primarily to give the illusion of leg length extension.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Pedal extensions, grotesque and othewise are recognized as not new per se and bell bottom pants represent a well known recurring fashion. However, there exists a demand for costume items, especially for boys, whereby the apparent height of the individual may be increased and this can best be accomplished by somehow masking the natural foot at the same time as the false pedal extremity is added. There also exists a need to avoid injury resulting from the increased likelihood of the user to stumble and fall when such items are worn on the legs and feet, and inadvertent collapse of the pedal extenders themselves has to be forestalled by proper design.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above mentioned needs are met by the instant invention which, as claimed, is a foot receiving member which may take the general shape of a sandal, and a pedal member connected thereto by release means which will easily and quickly disengage in an emergency situation as when the user stumbles and starts to fall. A bell bottom pant-like element is securable to the calf of the leg and covers the natural foot and the sandal, the cover being releasably attached to the sandal to prevent undue flapping. The pedal members are constructed of thick walled plastic further reinforced by ribs carrying stilf discs, and these pedal members are made in grotesque and/or comic configurations, all with upper platform portions with quick release attachment to the sandal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the lower portions of a boy using the invention, the two different pedal members illustrating two of the many possible embodiments of this part of the invention.

'FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of one embodiment, the upper part of the pedal member being partially broken away to show the upper platform portion and one means of attachment thereof to a sandal and also showing the means used to prevent collapse of the shank portion of the pedal member, the lower portion of the foot and sandal cover also being cut away to show the sandal construction.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, still further enlarged view taken on the line 3--3 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a variant upper platform-sandal attachment means.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 and showing a still further variation of the platform-sandal attachment means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT This invention while not primarily concerned with a particular configuration of the costumized or comic pedal member, is concerned with providing such items in a form which can be worn with reasonable safety and with maximum realism. To this end the cover 10' is provided to hide the natural foot 12 and a shoe if worn. The upper edge 14 of the cover is elasticized and the skirt 16 flares outwardly and downwardly from the uuper calf portion to a level well beneath the level of the sole of the shoe 12. The skirt may be constructed of sheet plastic or fabric and in any event is provided with a snap fastener 18 or the equivalent, for securement to what is herein denoted a sandal 20, as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The sandal 20 has a sole 22, as illustrated, and the sole 22 is preferably substantially flat with means thereon designed to mate with correspondingly configured connecting means on the surface of the upper platform portion 24 of the pedal member generally identified by the numeral 26.

This pedal member 26 is preferably formed with thick walls 28 and comic extremities such as the grotesque oversize foot and pegleg shown in FIG. 1. To prevent collapse of these walls, internal ribs 30 are formed in the upwardly extending or shank portions 32. These ribs are in a crisscross configuration and one or more of the ribs are horizontal and channeled to receive and hold stiff disks such as the single disk 34 shown in FIG. 2. In an alternative form, not illustrated, the shank portions are filled with plastic foam.

The safety type quick disconnect means used is illustrated in three forms. In FIGS. 2 and 3 the sole 22 of sandal is provided with spaced resilient buttons 36 and the upper platform 24 has a similar number of correspondingly positioned apertures 38 for releasably receiving the buttons 36. The upper platform is preferably initially formed as slightly depressed toward the aperture 38 as indicated in dash line at 40 in FIG. 3. Since the upper platform will have some inherent resiliency this initial depression will result in the sole of the sandal being pulled down tightly onto the upper platform and a firmer gripping action being achieved by the buttons 36, it being obvious that some limited flexing of the sole 22 can be relied on to permit the forcing of the buttons into the apertures 38 during attachment of the pedal member.

Variations of the attachment means is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. In FIG. 4 the upper platform 124 is provided with an upstanding boss 126- and the sole 122 has a peripheral depending flange 128 which snaps over the boss 126. In FIG. 5, the upper platform 224 is extended peripherally as a bead 230, and the sole 222 is formed with a depending peripheral skirt 232 which snaps over the bead 230.

I claim:

1. A costume item comprising:

a sandal having means for temporary attachment to a users foot; and a costume configured pedal member having a ground engaging part and an upper platform part;

said sandal and platform part having interattachment means with safety quick release capability to afford release as when the user stumbles or starts to fall, said quick release means being foot-operated or automatic in the sense of not requiring hand operation to disengage the sandal from the platform.

2. A costume item according to claim 1, and including a cover to conceal the natural foot of a user and said sandal;

said cover being a bell bottom pant leg simulating element with an elastic top to encircle and grasp the calf of a users leg for supporting said element.

3. An item according to claim 2, wherein said pant leg simulating element has means for attachment to said sandal.

4. An item according to claim 1 wherein said quick release interattachment means includes resilient snap-on connectors.

5. An item according to claim 1, wherein said quick release means includes relatively small resilient buttons on the bottom of said sandal and said upper platform part of the pedal member has correspondingly positioned apertures to receive said buttons.

6. An item according to claim 1 wherein said quick release means includes an outwardly extending peripheral bead on said pedal member around said upper platform part, and said sandal has a depending peripheral skirt dimensioned for snap-on connection with said bead.

7. An item according to claim 1 wherein said upper platform has an upstanding boss on a portion of the upper surface of the platform, and said sandal has a depending skirt dimensioned for snap-on connection with said boss.

8. An item according to claim 1 wherein said pedal member is hollow with walls having inward collapse preventing means comprising ribs on the internal surfaces of said walls and arranged in a criss-cross configuration.

9. An item according to claim 1 wherein said pedal member is hollow and including inward collapse preventing means in the form of plastic foam within the hollow pedal member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

